even a small amount

13:51 Sep 2, 2009 

not "even"

13:11 Sep 2, 2009 

-)

17:18 Sep 1, 2009 

This is a questionnaire for school-aged children. The question is How often did you do the following over the past 12 months? One of the answers is drink alcohol; there's also Smoke marijuana, etc. It's the discrepancy between "even a small amount" and "at least one drink" that I need to explore. How did a small amount turn into one drink? As others here have noted, to some, one drink is a small amount, and to others it's more than they would ever consume.

17:14 Sep 1, 2009 

It seems to me, Nancy, that the meaning of the original text depends a bit on the context in which it appears, and this surely needs to be reflected in the FR translation.

For example, if the phrase were in answer to the following question:

"What things should you not do before driving?"

it would have a quite different tenor from if it were:

"What things can you do to help you relax at a party?"

I feel sure that those 2 opposite examples would evince quite different translations into FR.

16:52 Sep 1, 2009 

Surely, only a 100% word-for-word translation is going to come out exactly the same however many times you put it through the works.

16:49 Sep 1, 2009 

I'm not too concerned about the question or the answers it might garner; it's the accuracy of the French translation of the original English I'm after, as the backtranslated English is not the same as the original English.

16:40 Sep 1, 2009 

La traduction française de "more than a small amount" est incorrecte (more than signifie plus que).<br>Le reste continue a engranger les erreurs...<br> Si la question est bien comprise et qu'il s'agit bien des mots repris en gras : voir réponse

16:36 Sep 1, 2009 

A small quantity to you maybe a large quantity to me, and un verre de vin can mean several things not to mention that un verre de vin and un verre de rhum can pack a different punch (no pun intended)

16:30 Sep 1, 2009 

I'm finding it a little difficult to see exactly what you would like help with here.